Incumbent health board member DeTerra leading by one in Fairhaven

FAIRHAVEN — After all of the ballots were recounted Tuesday night in the controversial Board of Health race, incumbent Peter DeTerra held the lead over John Wethington by a single vote.

ARIEL WITTENBERG

FAIRHAVEN — After all of the ballots were recounted Tuesday night in the controversial Board of Health race, incumbent Peter DeTerra held the lead over John Wethington by a single vote.

Late Tuesday, however, it was still unclear whether the race was settled because the candidates, their lawyers and town officials were still poring over voter check-in rolls and absentee ballot applications.

Neither candidate was available to comment because each was still involved in the recount process.

The Board of Health recount followed a highly competitive campaign and an election that was marred by errors including the swearing in of Wethington before all of the votes had been counted. Subsequent tallies gave DeTerra the lead by one, then two votes.

Two weeks ago, the Secretary of State's Election Division opened an investigation of the Fairhaven election alleging that ballots were mishandled after polls closed.

Most recently, a look at the "spoiled" ballots — ballots that were never supposed to be counted because voters made mistakes on them — showed Tuesday night that not all were properly labeled according to state law.

Before beginning the recount, Town Clerk Eileen Lowney read aloud the recount procedure from a printout of the Election Division's website.

Two ballots were contested during the recount. One was disqualified after a brief discussion by the Board of Registrars, but another spurred a 20-minute debate between attorney Ann DeNardis, representing Wethington, and DeTerra's attorney, John Markey.

That ballot was initially called for DeTerra but was challenged by DeNardis because a mark was made next to DeTerra's name but not in any bubble, and DeNardis argued that it should be counted as a "blank."

Massachusetts law dictates that the Board of Registrars must then determine the "will of the voter," but the four-member board was unsure whether to count the ballot for DeTerra or as a blank.

The law then requires the ballot to be "counted as called" but board members were unsure as to whether the original caller could change her mind. After additional debate, the ballot was counted for DeTerra.

More than 20 people attended the recount, held in the Town Hall auditorium. Those in attendance sat on separate sides of the room, depending on the candidate they supported. Supporters of DeTerra sat on the left and Wethington supporters on the right.